Best method question

  • Hi,

    Here is my setup:

    Main server is at a CoLo facility 60 miles away. They have full internet access with a huge pipe. Currently, we have a process that ships a full backup file for each database to our development server at the office every 3rd day. The problem is that the traffic for this big file is getting close to our limit. Also, we don't have current data 2 out of 3 days.

    I would like to set up either mirroring or transaction logging. I am a very newbie at this and need some advice as to which is better and easier to manage. Also, if anyone could point out some good articles or threads, I would appreciate that as well.

    Thank you.

    Mike

  • I'm not sure what you mean by transaction logging. Do you mean transactional replication? Or log shipping?

    Replication works at the table level, and shoots changes across either on a schedule or as you make them. The receiving database is online and useable for reporting/other tasks all the time.

    Both mirroring and log shipping work by essentially moving the transaction log to the other server, and applying the changes there. For the most part, that database is not usable. However the volume of data being shipped is much lower.

    You can read more about the options here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190202%28v=SQL.100%29.aspx and http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee523927(v=SQL.100).aspx

  • Yep, I meant log shipping. I am looking for a solution that I can easily implement and maintain. It needs to allow me to do local backups against the data on our in-house server.

    Mike

  • As steve mentioned, you can use either Log Shipping or Database Mirroring which work at database level.

    With SQL 2008, You can use compressed backups feature along with log shipping which will reduce the network traffic a lot.

    In the same , the database mirroring by default uses log compression which also will reduce the network traffic a lot.

    Both of them have their own pros and cons.

    I'd prefer DB Mirroring. It offers lot of flexibility, ease of management as well as automatic failover. However, monitoring capabilities are little bit limited for mirroring when compared to LS.

    Both LS and DM comes with their own limitations. Please check them as implement the method that suites your environment the best.

    Thank You,

    Best Regards,

    SQLBuddy.

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